TODAY, THE TRIUMPHS OF CARLSEN AND CARUANA LEAVE THEM AS THE ONLY CANDIDATES IN ORDER TO GET THE FIRST POSITION TOMORROW, IN THE CHESS MASTERS FINAL IN BILBAO.
They both are tied for the first place in the standings with 16 points, completely unattainable for the contenders.
The norwegian and italian, with black pieces, will fight for the title tomorrow on the final day of the tournament, against Aronian and Vallejo respectively.
Results round 9:
Caruana (Italy) (w), Aronian (Armenia) (b) 3-0 (duration: 2h 55m., 39 plays)
Carlsen (Norway) (w), Anand (India) (b) 3-0 (duration: 2h 10m.; 30 plays)
Karjakin (Russia) (w)-Vallejo (Spain) (b) 3-0 (duration: 3 h. 25 m. ; 49 plays)
Classification 9th round:
Fabiano Caruana: 16 points
Magnus Carlsen: 16 points
Levon Aronian: 10 points
Sergei Karjakin: 9 points
Viswanathan Anand: 8 points
Francisco Vallejo: 5 points
Bilbao 10.12.2012
The Chess Masters Final which is held in Bilbao will end as last year: two players will vie for the title in the final day of the tournament. In this ocasión the protagonists will be Fabiano Caruana, the revelation of the tournament, and Magnus Carlsen, the No. 1 of the world ranking, after their triumphs this afternoon, in the ninth round, against Anand and Aronian, world champion the first and olympic champion the latter, who after their looses are completely out of the race for the victory. In the third play of the day, in which the fight in order not to be the last one in the standings was held, Karjakin has defeated the spanish Valleko, both without any chance to win the tournament for some rounds.
With these results, the classification before the last and final round is led, tied with 16 points, by Cariana and Carlsen, followed by Aronian with 10 points, Karjakin with 9 points and Anand with 8. Vallejo closes the standings with 5 points.
In the decisive day of tomorrow, which will be held in the Alhondiga Bilbao starting at 16.30, the norwegian and the italian will play to get the triumph –with black pieces and therefore some disadvantage against their opponents- against Aronian and Vallejo respectively. In case they both reach the same result, tie between them will be kept and it will be solved in a direct confrontation, a tiebreaker in a quick game.
In one of the two main games of this afternoon, the world No. 1, Magnus Carlsen, has defeated the current world champion, Wisvanathan Anand. The norwegian has raised the sicilian defense, “Rossolimo variant”, and after it, in concordance with this strategy of the last time regarding the use of rare opening among the elite players. Carlsen has tried to find calm and viable positions which could appear unknown to his opponent. This strategy has given him an excellent result againsth the world champion, as far as Anand has not found the correct defense plan and his position has been collapsed in just 30 moves.
Meanwhile, Caruana has defeated the olympic champion Aronian. The game has been run by the spanish opening in which the white has tried to raise the “Marshall gambit” but the armenian, who precisely is some of the world specialists in this opening, knowing the risks assumed by the black in this variant, has tried to avoid it completely. In the resulting position after the opening, Aronian, bound to win in order to have options for the triumph in the tournament, has tried to carry the game to complex positions in which both players have been on edge. However, the olympic champion has taken excessive risks in this approach and has ended up losing the game against the revelation of the tournament.
In the third match of the day, facing the russian Karjakin and the spanish champion Vallejo, we have seen what it is actually considered the favorite opening of the tournament, the “Winawere variant” of the french opening. The player from Menorca, showing an excellent preparation in this position, has raised a world novelty in the 14th play, and in exchange of risking his king to the white´s attack, he has gained material advantage as far as enough defense options. Nevertheless, despite his decisive advantage, according to the computer analysis modules, Vallejo has been in a terrible timing trouble and has been bound to make 9 plays in less than 3 minutes. In this situation, a fatal mistake in the 33rd play has finished his advantage and after it, with less than 30 seconds of time, he has missed the possibility of bringing up the game in the 38th play, and thus, Karjakin´s victory has been an inevitable result.
The games can be followed in live via the official website of the tournament www.bilbaomastersfinal.com . The broadcasts will resume tomorrow, the last day of the tournament.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Good luck to them.